A review of “Poems from the Winter House” in 100 words by Catherine Stover
Daniel Smith’s poetry readings draw people who have never been to a poetry reading before. They come to hear him describe farming and his decision to finally sell his ancestral home and discontinue the way of life that had supported generations of his family. He doesn’t sugar-coat it. For example, when he describes a barn that’s barely standing, he writes, “The wind enters, swirls, departs like breath through the lungs of an old man dying” (41). Having grown up on a dairy farm, I think his book is pitch-perfect in its description of a difficult and beautiful way of life.
Work Cited:
Smith, Daniel. Poems from the Winter House. Water’s Edge Press, LLc, 2023, p.1.